A Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam by Holger Gzella


A Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam
Title : A Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 9004285091
ISBN-10 : 9789004285095
Format Type : Hardcover
Number of Pages : 452
Publication : First published January 15, 2015

Aramaic is a constant thread running through the various civilizations of the Near East, ancient and modern, from 1000 BCE to the present, and has been the language of small principalities, world empires, and a fair share of the Jewish-Christian tradition. Holger Gzella describes its cultural and linguistic history as a continuous evolution from its beginnings to the advent of Islam. For the first time the individual phases of the language, their socio-historical underpinnings, and the textual sources are discussed comprehensively in light of the latest linguistic and historical research and with ample attention to scribal traditions, multilingualism, and language as a marker of cultural self-awareness. Many new observations on Aramaic are thereby integrated into a coherent historical framework.

A Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam Reviews

  • IVellon

    I really enjoyed reading this book even though I struggeld a lot. The information is extremely dense, you have to stay attentive all the time in order to follow. I cannot assess the academic accuracy but I have listed some general points below.

    Pros:
    - the language is quite plain and readable
    - every chapter can be read for its own, information from previous (or following) chapters is repeated or cross-referenced; while reading the book from cover to cover the repetition helped me remember and see connections

    Cons:
    - I wished for more dates. The author explains why it is so hard to pinpoint dates when it comes to the different Aramaic vernaculars but at least a broad temporal classification of each chapter would have helped me t orientate myself
    - maps are missing! there's not a single map in the whole book